For studying genetic diversity caused byselection for adaptation and end-use, 17microsatellites (SSR), representative ofthe barley genome, were used in 26 barley(Hordeum vulgare L.) accessions andcultivars in Tunisia. Theaccessions/cultivars originate fromdifferent geographic regions and are ofdifferent end-use. For the 15 polymorphicSSR, the mean number of alleles per locuswas 3.6 and the average polymorphisminformation content was 0.45. Clusteranalysis based on SSR data and onmorphological data clearly differentiatethe genotypes according to their type(local landraces vs. varieties), row-numberand end-use. The correlation between bothdiversity measures was highly significant(r = 0.25, p